On a continuous quest for good pizza in the Quad Cities, we decided to try a restaurant that had been around for awhile - Antonella's in downtown Davenport (see map). While the area has a number of pizza places, a lot of them suck. (See my overview of Quad City pizza places here.) With great pizza places in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and even up in Dubuque, you'd think the Quad Cities area would finally come up with a true thin crust, non-processed topping pizza.
We may have found it.
According to their history page on their web site, Antonella's has been around since 1980. But I only remember them in the Quad Cities since about 2000. Their first location was in the old Dudley's Pizzaworks restaurant at Kimberly and Eastern in Davenport. 
Three years ago, they moved downtown to their present location in a building that used to house Trattoria Tiramisu (another restaurant that we haven't been to for quite sometime) before they moved to Bettendorf.
Run by Giovanni and Antonia Sgro, Antonella's has quietly garnered a huge following in the Quad City area. But it wasn't until the other night that we finally gave it a try.
We were in the mood for pizza and we'd talked about Antonella's on a couple of occasions. We'd have friends who have said good things about the place and we thought we'd give it a try.
It wasn't overly busy on a Thursday evening when we stopped in. There was a large family of 14 having a pizza party, but only four or five of the other tables or booths were occupied. Antonella's menu features not only pizza, but great Italian entrees and sandwiches. They also have a number of nightly specials they offer each day they're open.
We got our standard pizza - sausage, pepperoni and mushrooms. They feature five sizes of thin crust pizzas - small (10"), medium (12"), large (14"), extra-large (16") and their "Big E" - a 20" pizza. They also feature four sizes - small thru extra-large - of their pan or stuffed pizzas.
We waited about 20 minutes before the waitress brought it out to us. The crust was crispy thin, just as I like it. The toppings were a little slim, but workable. They did have the chunks of sausage on it, just as I like it, but there could have been more. And the taste was very good. While it wasn't the best thin crust pizza I've ever had, for Davenport and the Quad Cities, it had to rate up there as one of the best, if not the best.
We were talking to our waitress after the meal, a mid to late 50-ish lady who has waited on us before at other establishments. She used to work at Trattoria Tiramisu when they were open in that location, and just stayed on at Antonella's when they came in because she lives in the downtown area. She said their biggest drawback to the location is parking. Even with a number of parking garages in the area, there's not many that are close to Antonella's. And parking on the street around the place can be tough, especially on weekend nights. (We were lucky - Cindy found a spot right in front of the place.)
While the atmosphere is casual at Antonella's, you can still go there for a romantic dinner. They have a pretty good wine list and the entrees look plentiful and delicious. We were pleased with the pizza at Antonella's and we definitely will be back.
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